|
Last week buried the industry in headlines. Two of them actually matter for how you buy and plan over the next 90 days. Both come back to beef: one squeezes pricing, the other feeds a question I have been asking all year about where Tyson’s beef business is headed. Let’s get past the noise and into what to watch.
New World Screwworm Is Here
What happened. On June 3, 2026, New World Screwworm (NWS) was detected in a Texas calf, the first U.S. case in 60 years. The pest has been marching north through Mexico for months. Now it is across the border.
What to know. NWS is a parasitic pest that infests the living tissue of warm-blooded animals: livestock, pets, and wildlife. The U.S.-Mexico border has been closed to livestock imports since May 2025, shutting off roughly 1.25 million head of imported feeder cattle that normally flow into U.S. feedlots annually. USDA APHIS has invested $21 million into sterile fly production in Mexico and partnered with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build a domestic sterile fly production facility at Moore Air Force Base in Edinburg, Texas. This is not a food safety or food supply issue. Infested animals can be treated, and FSIS inspects every carcass before and after slaughter to determine what passes into food production.
What comes next. Work the plan. We have eradicated screwworm before and the playbook is solid. It just takes time to execute. Expect more cases, and expect the headlines and political noise to pour fuel on an already tight beef pricing story. Vigilant monitoring in affected areas and inspection at the point of food production are the two functions that matter most right now. The operating risk I am watching is transportation: as new infestations surface and movement restrictions tighten, you could see a scramble to place cattle in feedlots ahead of the risk.
New Leadership at Tyson Foods
What happened. On May 28, Tyson Foods announced that longtime executive Donnie King will step down in October and be replaced by 10-year board member Jeffrey Schomburger. In related news, current COO Devin Cole is abruptly retiring after nine months in the role. He will be replaced by former Tyson executive Wes Morris, effective June 15.
What to know. The announcement drew surprised reactions from market analysts, given that Schomburger has no protein industry operational experience. The incoming CEO is a former sales and marketing executive who spent 35 years at Procter & Gamble, most notably leading the company’s “Walmart Team” for 11 years. Wall Street also questioned how long he expects to hold the role, given he is currently 64.
What comes next. This one validates two themes I have covered all year. First, back in January, I joined the Damian Mason Business of Agriculture podcast and predicted Tyson Foods would sell its beef business to Walmart in 2026. Schomburger’s strong collaborative history with Walmart, combined with the fact that he has chaired Tyson’s strategy and acquisition committee since 2021, only strengthens that prediction. Second, on a recent Into The Fire podcast appearance, I laid out my criticism of the industry’s succession planning. The surprise appointment of a CEO with little protein industry experience, alongside the abrupt departure of COO Devin Cole, is another high-profile example of succession planning gone wrong.
|